Read a stop, then play the games to earn ⭐ and grow your garden! 🌱
Definition and role: A verb is a word that tells what someone or something does, or what state they are in. Verbs give action or show being. They are the working words of a sentence. Every sentence needs a verb to tell us what is happening.
Examples in daily life: Children run in the playground. Mother cooks food. The bird is small. In these sentences, 'run', 'cooks' and 'is' are verbs. Verbs may show visible actions like jump, eat, or invisible states like like, believe.
Finding verbs: Ask 'What is happening?' or 'What is the subject doing?' to find the verb. In short sentences the verb often comes after the subject. Verbs can be one word or more words (helping verb + main verb) as in 'is playing'.
Practice tip: Read sentences from storybooks and underline the verbs. Try to put your finger on the action while saying the sentence aloud. This helps in understanding and remembering verbs.
Action verbs: Action verbs show what the subject does. They describe movements or activities you can see or imagine, for example run, draw, read, sing. Action verbs answer questions like 'What does he/she do?' or 'What happened?'.
Linking or being verbs: Being verbs do not show action. They link the subject to information about the subject. Common being verbs are be forms: am, is, are, was, were. For example: I am tired. The cake is sweet. These verbs tell us a state or condition.
Difference in sentences: In 'The child paints', paint is an action verb. In 'The child is tired', is links the child to the state tired. Some verbs can be both in different sentences: 'She tastes the soup' (action) and 'The soup tastes good' (linking).
Class activity: Make two columns on the board and ask students to place words under Action and Being. Use simple sentences from daily life to practise identifying which kind of verb is used.
What are tenses? Tenses tell us when an action happens. The three main simple tenses are present (now), past (before), and future (later). Learning these helps us tell stories and talk about events correctly.
Present simple: Use the base verb for I/we/you/they and add -s or -es for he/she/it. Example: I walk. He walks. We use present simple for habits, facts and routines.
Past simple: Use the past form to talk about finished actions. Regular verbs add -ed (walk → walked). Irregular verbs change differently (go → went). Example: She played. They went to the park.
Future simple: Use 'will' + base verb to talk about events that will happen. Example: He will come. We can also use 'is going to' for planned actions: She is going to study.
Practice idea: Make three columns and put sentences under Present, Past and Future. Use story sentences from daily life so children can relate each tense to time words like today, yesterday and tomorrow.
What is agreement? Subject-verb agreement means the verb must match the subject in number (singular or plural). If the subject is single (he, she, it, the boy), the verb often takes -s in the present. If the subject is plural (we, they, the boys), the verb stays in base form.
Simple rules: For most verbs in present simple: He/She/It + verb+s (He plays). I/We/You/They + verb (They play). Note that the verb 'be' is special: I am, You are, He is, We are, They are. Also watch for subjects joined by 'and' (Two girls play) or separated by 'or' (Either Ria or her brothers are/?) — choose the verb to match the nearest subject in some cases.
Common mistakes: Do not add -s with plural subjects. Be careful with words like 'everyone' which look plural but are singular: Everyone is happy. Practice by changing sentences from singular to plural and changing the verb correctly.
Class exercise: Give sentences with blanks for verbs and ask children to fill the correct form to match the subject. Use familiar nouns and names to make the practice lively.
Regular verbs: Regular verbs form the past tense by adding -ed to the base form. Examples: play → played, jump → jumped. For verbs ending in 'e', add only -d (like → liked). For verbs ending in a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern, you may double the last letter before adding -ed (stop → stopped).
Irregular verbs: Irregular verbs do not follow the -ed rule. Their past forms change differently and must be memorised. Common irregulars for Class 5 include: go → went, eat → ate, have → had, see → saw, come → came.
How to learn: Make flashcards with base form on one side and past form on the other. Read short stories and notice the past verbs used. Practice by telling what you did yesterday using simple verbs, and check which are regular or irregular.
Activity: Give a list of base verbs and ask students to write their past forms. Reward correct answers and discuss tricky ones together so children remember the irregular changes.
Negatives: To make a negative sentence we use not with a helping verb. In present simple we use do/does + not + base verb: I do not (don't) play. He does not (doesn't) play. With be verbs we add not after the verb: She is not. In past we use did not + base verb for simple past negatives: They did not go.
Questions: For yes/no questions use the helping verb before the subject: Do you play? Does she study? Is he ready? Did they come? For information questions start with a question word (What, Where, When, Why, How) followed by the helping verb and subject: Where does he live?
Short answers: Students also learn short answers: Yes, I do. No, she doesn't. Yes, they did. Short answers must agree with the question and use the correct helping verb.
Practice: Turn simple affirmative sentences into negative and question forms. Use familiar verbs and prompts: 'He eats mangoes' → 'He does not eat mangoes.' → 'Does he eat mangoes?'. This helps understanding structure and polite speech.
Helping verbs: Helping verbs (also called auxiliary verbs) work with main verbs to make different tenses and voices. Common helpers for Class 5 are: am, is, are, was, were, do, does, did, will, have, has, had, and modal helpers like can, will. They help form continuous tenses, perfect ideas and questions.
Verb phrases: A verb phrase has a helping verb plus a main verb. Examples: is playing, are going, has eaten, will come. In 'She is reading', 'is' helps the main verb 'reading' to show an action happening now.
Using can and will: 'Can' shows ability: I can swim. 'Will' shows future: I will help. Combine helpers to make different meanings: She has eaten (shows completion), She is eating (shows action now).
Class activity: Give base verbs and ask students to make different verb phrases using helpers. For example: 'play' → is playing, played, will play, has played. This shows how helpers change the meaning and time.
Imperatives (commands): Imperative sentences give orders, instructions or requests. They usually begin with the base verb and the subject 'you' is understood. Examples: Sit down. Be quiet. Please open the window. Imperatives can be firm or gentle. To make the command polite, add 'please' at the start or end: Please close the door.
Using imperatives in school: Teachers and parents often use imperatives: Stand up, Listen carefully, Write your name. Children should learn both how to follow such commands and how to use polite forms when they ask someone to do something for them.
Requests and suggestions: For requests we often use modal helpers or polite phrases. Instead of a firm command, say Can you help me? or Could you please pass the book? For suggestions use Let’s: Let’s play, Let’s read a story. These forms are useful in friendly speech.
Simple phrasal verbs: A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word (an adverb or preposition) that together give a new meaning. Common two-word phrasal verbs for Class 5 are pick up (lift something), put down, turn off (stop a machine), turn on (start), sit down, stand up. The small word changes the meaning, so learn the pair together: pick up means lift; pick alone means choose.
Practice activities: Do role-plays where one child asks politely and the other follows the command: 'Please pick up the pencil' — child picks it up. Create cards with verbs and prepositions to make phrasal verbs and act them out. Teach children that many classroom instructions use imperatives and phrasal verbs, so practising them helps listening and speaking skills.